Poll of the Week: Best Family-Oriented Episode

[Jona ch'Ranni]

Family is often at the root of why our favorite characters are the way they are. The formative years can shape who a person grows up to be and the personality they exhibit. Interactions with parents, children and siblings tell us more about a person than seeing them fire phasers or save the day. It's no wonder that some of the best storytelling we have in the Trek-verse involves the families of the main characters. The tiny glimpses we get behind the veneer to peek at what makes them tick enliven these personas even more. Who can forget the first glimpse of tiny Alexander as he stands facing his towering father Worf? This week we ask you to tell us your favorite Star Trek episode that features a family-themed story line. Perhaps it's the first view we get of Spock's parents in "Journey to Babel"? This episode goes a long way in making the Vulcan seem less alien and more relatable. Maybe your favorite episode is "Family" (TNG) where we get a picture of Picard with his brother on the family vineyard as he recuperates from the Borg assimilation and the visit of Worf's adoptive parents to the Enterprise. Does the best family story involve the long-dead family that Picard experiences within his mind in "The Inner Light" (TNG) when under the influence of an alien probe? Or it might be the Hugo-nominated episode "The Visitor" (DN9) where we find an aging Jake Sisko recounting the struggle of losing his father and then paying the ultimate sacrifice to save him. What is the best family episode in your opinion and why?

[Sirok]

My vote is very, very personal and it's for The Visitor. Because I saw it a year after my father's death and the Tony Todd and Avery Brooks performance really got to me.

The other ones are very good episodes and in what you ask Journey to Babel and Family are very good. The Inner Light is great, but not so much because of the family orientation but because of the other themes it presents.

[Tony, aka Rouiancet]

I went for "The Visitor" too, but this was a REALLY hard choice. "Family" and "The Inner Light" are both phenomenal, but what pushed "The Visitor" over the edge for me is that you know, you know Patrick Stewart is a powerhouse actor and so you expect the best ... whereas "The Visitor" showed the Jake-Ben dynamic primarily via an actor we didn't know in one of the parts! And man, did it pay off.

[Blake]

VOY's Lineage. I feel like it's constantly overlooked. Yes, it lacks (quite deliberately) 'heart-warming' moments, but it's an important discussion about acceptance in our (and Trek's) society today.